


rockin' robin, cause we're really gonna rock tonight

by Phanseyelash123



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Detective Comics (Comics)
Genre: Angst, Kidnapping, Other, This is my friends as the characters!, torture fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-25
Updated: 2020-05-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:47:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22898218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phanseyelash123/pseuds/Phanseyelash123
Summary: Ruby had family. After they died, her family was her butler, and her friend, Harry. Being a hero, what would happen when her family is taken by a mad man?
Kudos: 5





	1. Dread

**Author's Note:**

> hey kyle, hope u like the surprise. and harry. i mean. ouch. this is a fic about u lmao.  
> follow me on @marvel_is_the_good_kush

Something was wrong. 

Something was off. She couldn’t place it, put a finger on it. When she walked down the hall in her robe, she looked about for her Butler, and found nothing but silence. 

It was odd. He was usually on her within a minute informing her on the many tasks she had ahead, which she commonly ignored though she found it pleasant for someone to talk to her in the morning. Finding herself in the main kitchen, she sat by herself and made cereal, while she watched the news. 

Boring. 

Surely something must be interesting to make the alarm bells start ringing. 

The feeling of dread you couldn’t place, but you just knew something was wrong. Something... She had it. And she got from experience she should trust her gut. Still, she awaited the arrival of her butler, staring at the television like it was to suddenly say breaking news- maybe explaining where Edward, the Butler, was. Yet, the silence deafened her, until she couldn’t take it. 

Ruby would go to wake up Harry, more commonly known as Robin, since he was currently staying in the guest bedroom until he found a apartment in Gotham. Ruby always offered the room up, for a permanent stay, but Harry assured he wanted to be independent. Who was she to stop him. 

Wandering up the stairs, she knocked on his door once she arrived. 

“Hey, Harry? Get up, yeah? We can train. Or get some breakfast out.” 

Silence. 

More silence. 

What was happening? Even though Robin was a angsty teenager, she denied the common rule, and barged in the room. 

Nothing. 

The room was neat, actually, and it never was neat. 

Heart pounding, as if it wanted to break the cage of ribs, she began to furiously get dressed into her normal clothes, and called Harry. 

Voicemail. 

Fuck, fuck, fuck. 

What if Joker has got to him? Harry was no match to the bastard, not yet? No, maybe he was just hanging out with his friend? Josh, maybe? No, no, what was happening. 

Ruby never got why people were so antsy about where their children were all the time until this moment. 

As she slid on some trousers, her phone began to purr on the table she had thrown it on, and she never moved so fast to grab the damn thing. 

Harry. 

Click. 

“Harry, Harry, where are-“

“Woah, Ruby, what’s up, what’s going on? Are you alright? You sound breathless.” It was Harry’s voice, gentle as always, and in the back Ruby could eat the soft hum of people chattering. 

“I-... I’m fine.” Ruby sat down and cleared her throat, adjusting her collar of the turtle neck. “Where are you?”

“Oh! I woke up early so Edward and I went out for breakfast. He did leave a note.” As he said so, Ruby noticed the paper on the bedside table. 

She hung up soon after, apologising for interrupting. 

Though she was red with embarrassment, she still felt like something was wrong. 

“Sugar, are you sure about this?” Daisy asked, fingers trailing down the arm of the Joker. 

Joker looked into nothing, and smiled to himself, like whatever it was was incredibly pleasing. 

“Of course, Dais.”

The clown themed girl smiled and kissed his cheek friendlily, before skipping away, then did a hop, and threw a knife, directly hitting the photo on the board. 

Robin. 

They both turned to one and other and smirked, and Joker ignored as the blood smothering his cheeks oozed onto the floor, staining his baby blue shirt. 

The Batwoman symbol was on. 

That feeling of dread was still heavy on her shoulders, but after this morning’s fiasco she was too embarrassed to think much of it. 

Looming into the light, she crept up to the commissioner and tried to hold back the scowl. It failed. 

“What do you want, today?”

“Joker... He was spotted with Daisy. They disappeared soon after but I thought I would notify you.”

The meeting was quickly over, since Ruby had no patience, and the peace cracked further. She hadn’t seen Harry today, no, not at all. He went out to breakfast and notified her by text he was going out with Josh to an arcade- old games, he was such a fan. 

Not wanting to get attached, Ruby waited three minutes before putting. “Okay.”

But now she wished she was hasty. She wished she had checked up on him. She wished she hadn’t let the embarrassment cover her gut. Out of anyone she could ever trust, it was always herself. As, from experience, she was barely wrong. 

Upon a roof, Batwoman studied the last place Joker was spotted and her fingers drilled her grappling gun anxiously. She was waiting for something to happen. She had messaged Harry ten minutes ago now, with no avail, so she double texted. 

Ruby: Haven’t seen you all day. Wanted to know if you wanted to train. 

Ruby: Harry? Are you okay?

Of course, she had talked to Edward, and he simply said he went to the arcade with Josh. Being overprotective of her friend, she looked up the live feed from the cameras at the arcade. No matches. Then, Ruby put out a facial recognition scanner all over Gotham for him. Yet, no matches. 

Her machines never failed her. 

Her gut had never failed her. 

Nothing happened for four long days. 

Those days were like getting knives in each organ as someone else said “I don’t know” to where he was. 

Every day she would check up where Joker was last seen. It never changed, it was always that fucking building. 

She didn’t sleep. She staked out that building like it was the last thing she could ever do. 

Because without this kid, what was she? A failure. She couldn’t loose anyone else. Not after her own parents. She didn’t want him to feel like that too. 

Finally, the building she was scoping creaked, a door opening, though it must have been the rear of the building as she could not see it, therefore she put her night vision goggles on and saw...

A man, a smaller man, a woman, and a few other people. They had guns. 

Ruby could recognise that man’s walk anywhere, that woman’s gait anywhere, the dread was right and Ruby hated the fact that she had distrusted herself, she hated the fact that she was always right, she hated the fact that her Robin was probably in danger because she wanted to play hero. 

Breathe. 

Her exhale was a cloud, floating into the smoggy night of the polluted city, and she cursed the fact that the weather was so cliché. 

She swooped down. 

Dread. 

“Wh... where am I?” Harry grumbled out. His eyes had been covered by a blindfold. With the realisation, he began struggling. He couldn’t move. His wrists were bound behind him- perhaps to a chair? He cursed, alarmed, and began to thrash. 

“Help!” He yelled. 

He hadn’t been trained for this. First, Ruby wanted to go through basic self defence (or offence), medical training, and then the more intense things... Like this. 

“R— Batwoman? I-is this a test? Please, you know what I’m like.”

Silence greeted him. 

The room was dingy and cold, and wherever he was was clearly a state because of how water was slowly dripping down his face and spine. 

“No. You wouldn’t do this to me. Hello?”

For a while, nothing happened, though he continued to struggle against the bounds. The more he awoke, the more he noticed. His legs were bound too. The chair was metal. The place smelt like dirt. 

Finally, out of the gloom, footsteps. 

This did not cause hope to spark- no, no- panic seized his body and he began to spasm desperately sobbing and screaming. Whoever was walking, was taking their time. There was a rhythm to their steps, like they were dancing- skipping, even. The alarm grew and grew and he shook his head. 

“No! This, this, this is a test!” He was sure. 

“You know, denial is the first stage of grief, muffin. Nothin’s even happened yet.”

The voice...

It was high, loving, purring, patronising in a way a mother spoke down to a child. 

It was Daisy 

“D-Daisy? What am I doing here? What do you want?” 

She giggled, and the footsteps halted. She was right in front of him. Finger tips against his temples. The blind fold came off. 

The first thing he saw was were her deep blue eyes. There were heavy with makeup- bright makeup- one being blue and the other red- and her lips were glossy and red. Like a signature, her hair was loose and dyed the same colours of the eyeshadow at the tips. 

Then, the guesses about the room were correct. Metal chair, dirty, and dark. It must have been a abandoned warehouse of some sort. Why was it always an abandoned warehouse? Couldn’t they be more creative? So cliché. Even with those thoughts, his tongue was glued to his mouth and he refused to speak up. 

Part of the training was hiding fear. He hadn’t gotten there either. 

She smiled to him, “well, cookie, I’m here to play a game.” The woman paused, pondering and tapping her chin thoughtfully. “I do sound like Jigsaw, don’t I? Oh, joy!” She clapped her hands in his face, making him flinch and tear up. 

“Anyway, muffin, if you really wanna know...” she began to circle him, a vulture and a decaying body, and paused behind him. The child froze. He couldn’t see her. This was much worse then being blindfolded. “I’m here cause Joker sent me.”

A chill went up his spin and through his blood. Batwoman couldn’t even beat him on a normal day. What was he meant to do? Cry? Call for help? Hope to God that Ruby would somehow find him in this abyss of Gotham City?

“Well, I dunno what he wants me to do. See, you’re still a kid. A sweetheart. And ruining the development of a kid is like triggering a bomb. It fucks ya up and there’s no coming out of it.” Her manicured hands clasped his shoulders and he cried out. “‘specially when you’re kidnapped and all. Oh well, I have my orders.”

There was a moment of silence. Then, he saw metal out of the corner of his eye. 

So many things. 

So many weapons. 

So many pointy things. 

Scalpels. Scissors. Knives. 

The type you saw on television on scenes like this. 

All on a nice platter, served by the one and only Daisy. 

It didn’t take long for him to screech in agony. 

How long had it been? An hour? It felt so much longer. A day? What? He couldn’t tell. The seconds felt like years. 

He couldn’t see from one eye. Was he blind? He wasn’t sure. He wasn’t sure of anything anymore. 

Dizzy, he looked up as the door opened, a beam of light entering for a fleeting moment, and then was crushed by the loud bang he was accustomed too. 

He blinked with the eye that worked and looked up as much as he could. He was wrecked. Tired. His blonde hair with brown roots was matted to his forehead with sweat and blood, and across his legs was cuts that he was sure could never heal. 

This time, the one opening the door was not Daisy. 

Was that a relief?

“H... help.” He whispered. He hadn’t drank in two days- and when he did it had been boiling water that probably did more harm than it did good. 

The vision he had was blurry and dark. 

He could still make out that iconic purple trench coat, the baby blue shirt and colourful tie, those blue trousers and big black boots. He could still make out the pure white makeup that was cracking at the edges. The dark green hair with roots which were black. The smile. The red smile. The smile that was cut to his ears, constantly bleeding and dripping and sore with it smudged all over his face from doing absolutely anything. 

Those footsteps were the scariest he had heard all week. 

“She did a number on you, huh?” His voice was deep and concentrated. He acted like he hadn’t ordered this. 

The rage of being held captive bubbled up inside of him and he collected spit, and spat it out forcefully at those boots. It landed directly on them. The saliva was red. 

The silence was only for a second before Harry croaked, “go to hell.”

The gloved hand came to his greasy hair and he tugged his face upwards. Understandably, Harry jolted in pain and a gasp left his cracked lips. 

“Tough words for someone who’s bounded up to a chair.” The Joker said smoothly. Up close, Harry could see how the makeup around his nose was faded, showing old freckles, and his eyebrows (that were still green) were thick and unkept. During one of Ruby’s conversations with Edward, Harry had peaked in and seen the Joker before he had changed on a large television screen Ruby had. 

He was beautiful. 

His hair was a luscious dark brown, black in certain light, brushed and smooth, and a few freckles spotted over his nose. His eyes were a wonderful blue and all he wore were things that looked so comfortable. 

But then she had flicked through the pictures. 

There, he saw less beautiful pictures. Ones of him on the floor. His face flushed with weeping and bruises over his body. Gashes and cuts, though small, were constant over his arms and body in general. The jarring thing was how thin he was. He must have been twenty, nineteen or so, and his rib cage was so prominent Harry almost vomited at the sight. His spine was curved unnaturally and his legs were slightly crooked. 

He wished he listened to Ruby when she was talking. She probably explained why he looked so destroyed. But all he heard was “he used to be my friend.” 

Those words echoed in his brain for days, a constant loop of pondering the idea that Ruby and Joker knew each other before Joker was... well, Joker. The idea that the healthy boy in the picture was once companions with his own friend. 

Even so, Harry’s mouth dripped blood, and Joker’s eyes travelled to it quickly. A smile grew to his face and he let Harry’s head fall to his chest. 

“How are you enjoying it here, little Robin?” He asked contently and out stretched his arms, showing off the place like it was a grand manor. Like home. Harry was looking for an apartment in Gotham, but really, his home was with Ruby. 

A weird smell began to flood the room. Maybe that was just Harry. It made him go woozy. 

“What do you want from me?” He slurred. 

“Answering a question with a question, huh? Wow, you do like to puzzle me. Don’t worry, I like it.” He opened the door again, and the already fuzzy vision became worse with the blinding light of the outside. Was it bright or was his eyes (eye) accustomed to the emptiness of the room? 

With a great struggle, Joker came in, gripping something tightly. A body bag, it seemed? Perhaps. He really couldn’t tell at this point. The smell had grown to a point that it was the only thing he could focus on. 

Was... Joker wearing a mask?

“You see, I was bored when I was out. So, I found Ruby and let’s just say she wasn’t expecting me.”

Ruby. 

Fuck, she wasn’t lying. They knew each other. 

The bag was opened and her body came tumbling out. 

Harry could do nothing other than sit and watch as Joker picked up the body, and began to dance with it. 

That was his friend. 

Was she... no, she couldn’t be dead. 

Lyrics began to flood the room, and they melted into one and other and everything began to feel like he was drowning. 

Joker and the body swayed along to the melody and Joker grinned as Ruby’s face leaked blood. He had cut a smile into her face- lips to ears. Just like him. 

“No.” Harry whispered, “no, no, no... not her.” He grew louder, thrashing against the bonds until wounds reopened and began to graze even more of his skin.  
He was sure there was screaming. However, he realised the screaming was his own, and even as his throat gurgled with blood from dehydration, he continued anyway. 

“No! No! No! No! Stop it! Stop it, stop it, please! Please! What do you want from me?! Just leave me alone! Please. Fucking— she was the only one I could trust— she was my family!” He was yelling, he knew, and he couldn’t tell what he was saying. 

Joker continued anyway, like he couldn’t hear him, and he smushed Ruby and his own face together, their blood mixing and dripping and oh god, Harry was going to be sick. He bent forward as well as he could and he couldn’t stop vomiting, all over his lap and some on the floor. 

And with that, he fell unconscious, into he less painful state of mind.


	2. Relief

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ruby wants revenge. 
> 
> Harry wants relief.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope u like it

Ruby’s hand pushed into the door and it opened easily. 

This all felt too easy. With those four days of waiting and scouting and just being useless... This was too easy. 

The building was silent. No one was in it apart from a body which was unmoving on the floor. Since the x-ray didn’t show features but only the body’s outline, it did seem like her small friend. 

She couldn’t take the suspense. If it was a trap, she didn’t care. She needed to know he was okay. She was exhausted of those who tried to give her the bullshit “it will be alright” when her parental instincts went haywire. 

So, with not a second to lose, she bathed into the room, loud and abrupt. Nothing. Nothing was there. No guns, no traps, no explosives. 

Only a tiny, frail, curled body in the middle of the room. 

The hero didn’t remember running forward, but soon enough he was cradled in her arms and pulled to her armoured chest. It was him. 

Harry was alive. 

“Thank God, my God. Harry, Robin...” she was muttering and began to check his vitals. 

Fuck. He was... so close...

So close to death. 

No, she wouldn’t be too late. Not this time. She began to run. She ordered a ambulance immediately. 

So many cuts. 

So many bruises. 

So many... 

He was missing a tooth. He was missing finger nails. He was missing skin. 

A large bruise swelled on one eye and it was still open, puss oozing out and blood smudged down his face. 

He had a smile cut into his face. Like the joker. 

From his mouth, to his ears. 

How was he still alive?

As soon as that boy was on a stretcher, she leapt off into the night with no word to anyone. 

Even when Edward called, she declined. 

She needed to focus on one person. 

Joker. 

Joker sat on a skeleton of a old car at a junkyard, with Daisy by his side who was idly playing Candy Crush on her phone, blowing bubble gum from her lips, only for it to pop and her to redo it again. 

He didn’t bother with gunmen. The plan was set, so there was no point in having people that Batwoman would just knock out anyway. 

He stared into the deep sky. Out here, it was so peaceful, the stars glittering and the glow of the moon casting a shadow to the dirt floor. He looked to the constellations, the things he used to admire; and now the things he could care less about. When life had been so simple. The clouds were few and far in between- no traffic to even be heard. The only sound was the trees, and the faint cream of ageing metal. Finally, his blue eyes came back to earth, were he looked at everything abandoned. 

Old toys; old cars; old junk. 

He liked it here. He felt like it was where he was meant to be. Just sitting here, with the breeze rustling his clothes, lapping his cheeks until his nose went red beneath the makeup he dressed himself in. He rolled his shoulders and sighed happily. The night was cold, making his face blush and him shiver. 

The silence, the silence was so good. His head was always hurting, so the quiet was calming. 

Oh, how he wished his life was quiet. 

Though, for it to be quiet, he had to be admitted to a mental hospital. And with people like him? Trapped in a place full of other crazies? Not good. No, not good at all. It felt like everything in his life came to running away from the white halls, the white clothes, the white shoes and the white rooms. The white rooms he had slammed his head into so much the white had splattered red. 

The red would flash into memories of yelling and screaming and the sound of glass smashing and her look, and his hand, and his own eyes staring at his reflection, dying his hair and cutting into his face for the first time. 

Then, the smile would cause a reaction inside of him. 

An uncontrollable laughter. 

And now, on the car in the junkyard, surrounded by forgotten objects that served little time, he began to giggle. 

The giggle turned into a chuckle. The chuckle turned into a laugh. The laugh turned into pure hysteria. 

He clutched his stomach and tried to breathe, as more and more memories crashed into him like a uncontrollable wave of emotion, and he wheezed. 

Then finally, the hysteria turned into a cry. The cry to a weep. The weep to a sob. 

A hand came to his hair and began stroking. He knew it was Daisy, but it was so hard not to flinch. She was whispering calming words, and he grabbed her and squeezed her and cried louder. 

For a while, that was all that happened. 

He pulled away once he had calmed, and gave her a small smile. 

“How’s the makeup?” He croaked. 

The girl smiled back, “looking good.”

The junkyard was a barren land that Ruby hadn’t visited in a while. The last time she had came, Joker and her fought roughly and she came to blow off steam. But, they used to go and sit on a car and talk. If it was nighttime, Ruby would point to all the constellations and Joker would nod his head and smile. 

Some nights would be pleasant, like those. And other nights, Kyle broke into a cry that ripped his throat out and tore him apart. Ruby had always calmed him, soothing his dark hair and kissing his forehead. 

She wasn’t stupid, she knew what was happening. 

The bruises, the cuts, the fear. 

Yet he refused any of the help. 

Ruby should have done better. She should have stepped in. She should have defended him. 

She kept losing family. 

So, she went to the junkyard. She couldn’t find Joker, he was no where to be seen, so she might as well go to a place and punch a few tires. That was what she usually did nowadays anyway. It used to be a place of content memories with a friend- however now, it was empty of those nights, and they were replaced by anger, her aggression seeping into actions and punching metal and anything sturdy enough to stand straight. 

Once her foot had touched the dirt ground, she realised something. She was not there to punch something. She was there because her gut told her to go there. 

The realisation caused her to trigger her heat sensor, and would you know it...

There were two people. 

A woman, and a man. 

She shook off the suspicion, until she recalled her gut brought her there, so she pulled a batarang from her belt and swiftly walked forward. 

Afterwards, she saw them. 

Daisy, and the one and only Joker. 

Ruby didn’t know what to think at first. Anger took the wheel quickly and she stormed forward. 

“What the fuck did you do?”

Joker sat forward and grinned crookedly, “hello there, Ruby.” He waved and stepped down the car pile, and onto the floor to be eye to eye with her. Even though he was much taller than her, she managed to look more threatening with black armour, cape and many, many weapons. 

“Oh, we’re on fucking first name basis now?” She seethed and walked towards him. “Okay, Kyle, why did you hurt Harry?” 

Joker’s name being mentioned made the smile drop and he clenched his gloved fist, “don’t call me that—“

He was cut off as a knife entered his arm and he held back a squeal of pain. The gasp he had slipped out turned into a chuckle. “Oh, you mad?”

Daisy didn’t think the injury was funny and came behind him with her baseball bat clutched in one hand. “Oh, Mr. J, we should get outa here.”

“No, no, Daisy, we’re fine.” He grinned, “whatchya gonna do, Batty. Gonna kill me?”

He didn’t see her move and she was on top of him, smashing his body to the floor. Her fists met his face, hitting over and over and over again. He laughed until blood prevented him from doing so, and she punched until more blood came up. 

Ruby regained control and stared at Joker. He had tears streaming down his cheeks and blood smothering his clothes, his makeup was basically all gone now, the blood, sweat and tears clearing the already cracked face paint away. She could see the bruises already forming and the cuts oozing. 

She exhaled short and shaky breaths. Ruby rolled over onto her back and stared at the sky, along with Joker who was chuckling. 

Her eyes glided to him. He looked like shit. His nose was crooked, broken by her knuckles, and his mullet-length hair was flat against the sandy floor. His body was smothered in dirt and God knows what else. Returning her glance to the stars, she whispered, “I’m sending you to the asylum you insane fucking asshole.”

Joker’s laugh stopped. 

Edward waited outside the hospital room. He was not very old, only late 50s, though the stress-lines said otherwise. He has been calling Ruby non-stop, and she didn’t answer. She had a tendency to be reckless and impulsive, and after what happened with Harry, he didn’t want her doing anything rash. Even though whatever she was doing to Joker, he did deserve it. 

The older man played with his fingers and a nurse finally walked out and told him he was stabilised. 

“Can I see him?” He asked, large eyebrows knitting. He really hoped he could see some of his family at least. 

“No, not right now. He’s currently asleep, and he will be for a while. A short coma- a few days, perhaps. He was... really damaged.”

The nurses had been told on the way this was a victim of the Joker, and absolutely none of them wanted anything to do with the crazed man. 

“I can have him transferred to Wilkins’s manor though, yes?”

The nurse nodded. “Yes. Yes. As long as you have the right equipment. Three nurses should be with you at all times, however.”

Edward smiled, “Okay, thank you. Thank you for saving him.” 

She nodded in return, “of course.”

Two days afterwards, visitors were allowed. Edward did not leave his side, always sitting and reading patiently. The only time he would move was to go to the loo, or go home to sleep, in which he would wake up at the earliest time possible to go back to the hospital for visiting hours. 

He hadn’t seen Ruby. 

She was in her room, always. 

She refused to exit, and kept all her doors and windows shut and locked right. When Edward told her Harry was okay, she had just made a “Hm” sound. 

Edward shouldn’t be mad. He was. This was her son (though she didn’t label him her son, Edward could tell the loving eyes of a parent any day) and she didn’t even come to the hospital. He understood she blamed herself and was isolating herself from guilt. But Harry needed her. 

He read by his side, and the world he had submerged himself in broke as a spluttering cough erupted into a room. 

Harry. 

Edward jolted forward and he smiled when he saw Harry was blinking slowly- and beneath his thick eyelashes he glanced around. The first thing he clearly looked to was his wrists, and then somewhat fearfully around the whole area. And then he landed on Edward. 

“Edward—? Ed... Edward!” He half-exclaimed and tried to sit up. His body was too weak and all he did was groan. 

“Hey, now,” He said, calm and steady, “just relax. You’re safe.”

Harry began to cry. 

“Oh, God. Please don’t hu..hurt me.”

His heart broke and he shook his head, “no, Harry, I’m not going to hurt you—“

“I know you’re working for her!” He yelled, thrashing and trying to remove the tubes from his arms, “you can’t trick me!”

Nurses came in and gave him a small dosage of a drug to calm him. His eyes widened at the sight of the needles and he squirmed more, yelling for help, his eyes now never leaving Edward, like he ordered the nurses to come in. After a struggle, he fell asleep, tears gliding down his bandaged face, and Edward stared in horror. 

What had happened to him while he was gone?


	3. Quizzical

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry suffers.  
> A new character appears.

Harry woke up to water seeping down his back. He wasn’t startled, and he even drifted back into nothingness. But then, someone clapped in his face. 

The smell was pungent and that had become the norm. Harry’s vision was always blurred. 

“Wake up.” 

Harry looked up tiredly and frowned, “Ruby...? No. You’re dead. How’re you here?” Was that all a dream? What was that?

Instead, Ruby chuckled, “I’m not dead, dumbass. This was all a test. You know how I’m always pushing you.” The way she stood, the way she wore her clothes and the way her eyes were tired but so awake seemed to be her. This had to be real. No mask could even do this. 

His fingers curled into his palms and his nails dug into his skin, drawing blood. “What?” He hissed. Ruby huffed a laugh and shuffled with a bag she had. Sure, she was alive and well, wearing her usual black turtle neck and skinny jeans and boots. What was that, then? Why had it seemed so real? Fuck, why was he so woozy? A better question: why go through all this trouble?

What was Joker doing? When she said they were friends... was the ‘were’ actually ‘are’? Are they working together?

No... those dead eyes that bored into his soul as Joker rocked them to the beat of the song. The way the blood dropped down her chin and dribbled down her neck, staining her dark clothes and the way Joker has pushed their faces together like a happy couple. The way he left the body there for hours- since he woke up to the body at his feet, eyes set on him. 

No... she couldn’t be here. 

This was a hallucination, for sure. His brain was cooking things up as he bled to death. Why was his brain so dark, Christ. 

“But then I realised something, Harry.” She was saying causally, pulling things from the buffet bag. The ‘things’ being more metal objects he despised to see. 

“I realised I liked hurting you. I liked pushing you. I want you to be strong. I want you to be like me.” 

He screamed as the first blade entered his arm. 

Ruby’s eyes slowly opened. She didn’t realise she had fallen asleep. Her body probably needed it, but she was punishing herself. How could she let this happen? How could she let Harry hurt like this? How could she keep doing this? 

Harry was the sweetest boy she ever knew, and now he was... well, what was he? She didn’t pick up to Edward, or any business calls. She turned on the television for two seconds and saw reports of what happened to Harry. It made her sick. They turned this horrific event into a journalist’s paycheck. They twisted it, they turned it onto Batwoman. How dare it take her so long? The boy was Ruby Wikins’s kin and she sat on her ass all day! 

Batwoman was Ruby Wilkins. And Ruby Wilkins’s kin was hurt because of her. 

The room was so dark and large and empty. There was a reason why she despised being alone, and liked waking up to Edward telling her what she had to do today, before showing her a funny video she didn’t laugh at, but thought it was hilarious on the inside. 

Today, she twisted so she was head in pillows, and screamed until she was sobbing. 

The state of Harry. 

The permanent reminder of Joker, the two long cuts of the smile. The bruises and so many fucking wounds. It was all on her. 

She clawed her way to the bathroom and stared at herself in the mirror. Jesus, she was in a state. Her eyes were dull and beneath were semi-circle of darkness. She looked gaunt. She hadn’t eaten for a day or so. 

She had a quick shower that was of burning heat and crept back to bed. This time there were knocks at the door. “Ed?” She asked tiredly and brushed her hair through. It latched to her of course, and it made her look deflated, relating to her mood funnily enough. 

“Edward, what do you want?” She began to dress. 

“Look, Ruby. Please come out?” His voice was broken and tired. She felt pain sliver through her. This was a punishment not only for herself, but it seemed she had indirectly punished Edward too, putting him into a place of loneliness. 

“I understand why you’re in there. However, Harry... you should just see him. It’s urgent. And besides, it would do you some good too, Ruby.” He said. 

She took a moment to ponder, and then the door slid open and she tiredly blinked to him. 

“Fine. But not ‘cause you said so.”

The car journey was long and boring, the paparazzi following the car mercilessly, wanting to get photos of her distraught state for the papers. Or maybe they were to frame it as neglect. After all, she hadn’t even come out to see her rumoured son after he was brutally tortured by The Joker. Even so, Edward drove forward and Ruby said nothing, continuing to look forward with dark eyes. 

Edward glanced to her quickly, seeing the large eye bags and the way she seemed gaunt. It wasn’t fair. All his family were withering before his eyes and he couldn’t do anything about it. 

They arrived to the hospital and immediately Ruby was bombarded with flashing lights of photographers and demands of News Anchors. She sat back in the car, overwhelmed from the sudden calm and silence to shouting and light. She rested her face in her palms and held a scream of frustration. She put on her celebrity smile, and Edward patted her shoulder. “You’ve got this, Ruby.”

Breathing in and out, Ruby got out of the car again and this time was prepared for the blinding flashes. 

“Ruby, what happened to your son?”

“Ruby, Ruby, what’s your opinion on Joker?”

“Miss, do you know if he’s okay?”

“Ruby, have you heard the rumour this was all Batwoman’s fault?”

Ruby. Ruby. Ruby. 

She pressed on, her fake smile faltering and she kept her face straight forward as she walked to the entrance of the hospital. 

Ruby. Ruby. Ruby. 

“Miss. Wilkins, why have you not turned up to the hospital before this?”

“Miss, why haven’t you—“

“Just let me see my fucking son in peace, you inconsiderate bastards!” She finally snapped and turned to them all, though the cameras snapped, it was scattered, the shock was eminent on all of their expressions, especially those who were asking the questions. “Go get a life and quit stalking mine.” Ruby spat and entered the building. 

Harry stared at his hands like they were other worldly. Maybe it was the drugs, or maybe he lack of blood. The fact it was all cleaned off meant he could see every bandage over his body. There was only a few inches of his arms and legs that were actually visible. His hands were the worst, he thought. His nails had been peeled from the tips so there were blood at the end of them, always. Though, he hadn’t seen a mirror, and he knew there were bandages on his face. 

He couldn’t remember why. 

He hesitantly ate the food, remembering how Daisy had given him a cupcake, that turned out to have many things that should not be in a cupcake in it. So, when the shitty hospital food was put on his lap, he eyed it warily for a while like expecting it to jump out and eat him. 

He then looked to the ceiling. In a way, he was equally as trapped, just now he was not in constant agony. He couldn’t get up, not really, and he couldn’t feel half of his body. 

Even so, his mind drifted back to the haunting brown eyes and the pale face that splattered with his blood, laughing as he screamed. 

He didn’t know how she could betray him. 

And then it made sense. She was lonely, and fucking crazy. It was easy to label someone as crazy to explain their motives and actions- so he knew deep down it couldn’t be that simple. Maybe she was right- maybe Harry did need to toughen up. Or maybe she was just what he thought- mental. 

After very long conversations, he had gotten a little faith that Edward was not going to pull out a sharp object and dissect him (this may be part of her plan? Get his trust and then rip it from him?) 

He looked at the door when someone walked in- and speaking of the devil it was the butler. He smiled, “Hey, Ed.”

And then the smile flushed away so fast it was dangerous. 

Ruby. 

“No.” Harry shook his head, “get her out of here! Get the fuck out of here!” He was squirming, his heart rate on the monitor increasing rapidly at the sight of the woman. 

“Harry- what—“ Ruby was petrified as Harry tore himself apart in fear, fingers bleeding as he struggled to try and leave. 

“Harry, no, please calm and listen.” Edward tried, attempting to not show how desperate he was. 

“No! She fucking— she dug my skin out! Get her out!” 

With that, Ruby rushed out of the room, many nurses staring between the two, and Edward grimaced. 

There was no chance of getting her out of her room now. 

Ruby was back in her house. This time, she was by the poolside, and her mind was elsewhere as she stared off into the nothingness. A loud splash ticked her off, and she flinched, turning to look to the intruder. They resurfaced and there was Lucy, Wonder Woman, in all her glory. Her curly, short hair was now flat on her forehead, and she had gotten into a bathing suit- though it was just swimming shorts and a t-shirt. 

Ruby mustered a small smile, “Hey, Luc.” She said, and stood. The other woman put her forearms on the pool side and smiled to her. 

“I heard what happened, are you okay?”

“I didn’t realise Wonder Woman was such a sap for people in mourning.” Ruby fiddled with the small glass she was cradling and took a sip. 

Lucy’s grin suddenly disappeared. “He passed?”

“Mentally, yes. Physically, almost. Look, Luc, I appreciate the gesture but you’re pro’ally just gonna make it worse.” Her hands were shaking now, and she had to hold the glass with another hand to prevent the other from knowing. “Hey, nah, you’re part of Justice League, okay? We’re in this together. And mi casa es tu casa.” 

“Yeah, well, mi casa es no tu casa.” The shorter grumbled beneath her breath. She began to walk away, hearing Lucy get out of the pool and wet feet splatter on the path. 

“Why are you pushing us away?” 

Us. 

A long pause, and Lucy grimaced. She couldn’t see her friend’s face. She hoped she hadn’t triggered a nerve; her feeling targeted was the last thing that would help. 

“Edward sent you, didn’t he?” Ruby finally said, putting the empty drink to one of the tables. She didn’t turn to face Lucy. 

“He invited me. I know you’re going through a hard time right now, but we’re here for you, Ruby. You don’t have to go through this alone. We love—“

“No!” Ruby shouted over her, whipping around, “you get close to me, and you will die. You will die, or get tortured, and it’s because of me, Luc! I get it! It hasn’t happened to you! You don’t get it! But the pain I’m going through— it’s selfish. It’s not okay that I’m getting support. Support Harry! He’s the one-... he’s the one that knows I’m a monster. Just fuck off!” She pointed to her, and she touched her face in surprise when tears were streaming down. “Just... just fuck off.”

Lucy pulled her in for a hug, and even though she was sopping and ice cold, Ruby clung to her, while she sobbed. 

“Edward, may I speak to you?” One of the nurses said. The old man looked to the nurse, who was a young man with dark hair. Edward nodded understandingly and got up, “of course.”

“So, we were looking into what was wrong with Mr. Wilkins-“ Edward thought it was weird people assumed his name was Harry Wilkins- maybe people believed that the adoption wasn’t official but he wanted to be referee to as Wilkins- he wasn’t sure. “-and we found something we believe we should inform you on.” 

He passed a board to him. 

Edward skipped to the more relevant part, his diagnosis, and his eyes went wide. 

“A... drug?” He murmured, to himself. 

“Yes, it is nothing we have never seen before. We have seen similar patterns in the Scarecrow’s toxin, but this one... it seems so much more concentrated.” The nurse said, beside Edward to point to more symptoms. “We had a psychiatrist come in and talk to Harry. He seems to be suffering from PTSD— that may be why he reacted so negatively to Miss. Wilkins.” 

Edward nodded along, “back to the toxin... so Scarecrow’s toxin was focussed on worst fears, correct?” The nurse nodded. “Right, so maybe this tapped into it. Maybe, it wanted certain fears provoked.” 

Lucy patted Ruby’s back as she was under three blankets and surrounded by empty packets of chocolate. She forgot how much food rich people had, and helped herself to food. After all, her metabolism prevented her from gaining weight, so she might as well enjoy herself when her friend needed her. Ruby leaned on her arm and her eyes were glossy, making the movie they were watching reflective. 

“Luc... I should go see him.”

Lucy focussed on her. “Do you want to?”

“I should.”

Smiling once more, she nodded, “I can always come with you. Only if you want.”

“Okay.”

Silence became of them. 

This time, it was a good silence.


	4. Help

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ouchie wouchie sorry for not updating lmao okay bye

Chapter 4

A day passed and Harry was more than pleased to find he had no one in the room with him. He ate one meal a day, refusing others, and every so often to pain meds would weaken and his muscles in his face would ache. It felt as if he was constantly bleeding. What had happened to his face?

His wounds were no where near to healed, so he didn’t bother to get up and do things on his own. It was midday and he was watching TV, though he avoided the News because he was sick of seeing his face and The Joker’s name. 

He had been put in a mental health hospital. They couldn’t arrest him. He pleaded insanity. He had seen a minute of the court case, and Joker was completely gone of makeup, but his hair remained the darkening green and his cut face looked so... malicious. So overdone. Constantly reopened. Even though it clearly hadn’t been torn within his capture, it was so pink and red it reminded Harry of his own body. 

Of course he had taken off one of his bandages. He wanted to see how bad it was. His hands had shook like he had hypothermia and he unravelled the white cloth, and fuck. His arms looked like... He couldn’t even describe it. The more he looked, the more he scanned and the more studied, he made out words. 

FAILURE

USED

And right on his wrist:

JOKER

A very prominent reminder of the man. He knew Daisy had carved those into his skin, but why would she carve Joker’s name if Ruby was behind it? It was all a huge mind fuck. 

Even so, he jolted when someone knocked at his door and he exhaled once he saw Josh. He hadn’t seen him for a while. Last time he had, Harry was kidnapped in the same day. They went to the arcade and laughed and now it felt like if Harry laughed, he would shatter. He didn’t smile- he found that caused his face a slight itch when on pain killers. Maybe it was a muscle relaxing one, so when he strained his muscles it ached?

“Hey, Harry.” Josh’s voice was deep and gentle as per usual, and he kept his movements hesitant. He must have known what happened— Harry could have slapped himself if he didn’t know it would cause him great pain— Of course Josh knew what happened! The world knew what happened!

As he sat down, Harry spoke up, “Hey.”

There was a silence and Harry returned his gaze to the television, and they sat in a pleasant silence for a while. It felt nice. No talking, no worries, just watching tv with his friend—

“Hey, Harry.” 

That wasn’t Josh. That made him jolt a little and turn to the door, but it was Lucy, Wonder Woman. Woah. He never really talked to her, since Lucy was only at the manor for Ruby on official business and didn’t really pay much attention to the rookie, so seeing her, a war hero, by his hospital room made him feel... suspicious. 

“What are you doing here?” He felt like an asshole talking with an attitude, however he couldn’t shake off the feeling she was somehow connected to Ruby. 

Ruby. 

The knife. The smiling. The screams. The crying. The laughing. The blood. So much blood. 

Ruby. 

Ruby. 

Ruby. 

Ruby. 

“Yo, came to check up on ya. Ooh, you watching Battle of the Bulge! I remember when that movie came out... what was it... 1965?” She put her hands on her waist and huffed some hair from her eye, “you know, that’s really inaccurate. The jeep was made after the war and the weather was—“

“Cut the crap.” Harry cut her off, and Lucy’s smile faded into a frown that was for her enemies. Though Harry wasn’t frightened, after all it wasn’t her fault that was what her face looked like, and he had gone through much worse recently. Lucy then sighed and smiled again, trying to offer up mercy from her last expression. 

“How’re you feeling, rookie?” Lucy asked and took a step forward, hesitant like Harry was a bomb about to go off, or as if he was a dangerous animal. He preferred the latter. 

“Why do you suddenly care, is a better question.” He said, narrowing his eyes. Josh stood slowly, putting his hands up. “Harry, dude, I’m sure she’s here for a good reason. Don’t worry about it.” 

Harry was not worried. He was confident. 

“You’re here with Ruby, aren’t you?” He poked, and Lucy’s face remained the same, her arms still crossed over her chest. “Come on. Tell her to come out. Tell her, and the rest of the world, to fuck off with their fake pity. Ruby tortured me. Yeah. She did. And I’m gonna come out to the world about it.” 

Josh looked bewildered and confused, looking at Lucy for help, however her face didn’t crack at all. Instead, she kept the smile up and dragged a chair over to the hospital bed and sat on it with her legs parted and her elbows on her knee, head supported by her hands. “You know fear toxins, right?” She asked. 

Taken aback by her firm tone, he nodded. “Of course.” He said, “Scarecrow uses them on his victims to get them to hallucinate their biggest fears...”

A long silence, and Lucy broke it with a small sigh. “I chatted to some of the doctors. They tested your blood. They found that stuff in you, but it was more focussed. Most likely to target the more Batman orientated side.” When Josh looked at her with a raised brow, Lucy shrugged, “I’m a warrior, not a scientist.”

Harry’s eyes focussed on the plain bed in front of him and he refused to answer to any other questions or other things said to him. His mind was distracted by the memories of Ruby- her huge grin as she carved things into his skin. Was it possible that it was a lie? That Ruby hadn’t hurt him? Why did his face hurt? That all his trauma was a lie? What was true? Was that the Joker cutting him? Was it even Daisy? Why did his face hurt? Did Harry even know what was real? Was it still in his system now? Why did his face hurt? Was Lucy lying- was this part of the trick? 

Was that blood?

Josh was grabbing his hand gently and yelling, but Harry couldn’t hear. He felt distant, far away, like he was watching from a different view. Like third person. Even so, he hazily looked in the direction of the door and saw doctors rushing in, and there stood the woman herself, staring at him with tearful eyes, a large turtleneck and skinny jeans and boots, all black, her hair tied into a high ponytail. She was crying. 

Why was there blood?

Harry looked at his hands and noticed bandages. Had he removed bandages? Had they fallen off? Wait, what bandages were missing?

Lucy stood in the corner of the room with guarded eyes, though her brows were upturned with concern and Josh quickly fled to the side so nurses and doctors could come inside. 

Blood. 

Why was there blood?

Harry’s blue eyes drifted between the doctors, everything hazy and slow, and he lied down as they all fussed around him. He turned to face the right. The mirror that had been taunting him for the last few days, finally receiving what he really looked like. 

The bandages on his face were gone. 

Two large, gruesome, fleshy pink cuts were inhabiting his skin- the corner of his mouth up to his ears. 

Joker’s name on his wrist wasn’t the only reminder he got now. 

He also got the face. 

Blood seeped down the cracks of his skin and into the white pillows as worried voices echoed out of his range, and he made eye contact with the man in the mirror- him. 

And through all the mess, all the faint cries and yells, Harry smiled. 

Ruby sat outside the hospital room for days. She understood why Edward never left now- leaving felt like betrayal and entering felt like a fix of some kind. And now, Edward sat with her, his old hand overlapping hers and he gently rubbed his thumb into her hand to keep her assured everything was going to be alright. They stayed until they were asked to leave and they got up at five in the morning to get there at six. Ruby often fell asleep outside Harry’s room. 

Something about how her son had looked at her like he didn’t know her and take his bandages from his face, revealing harsh cuts that bled haunted her dreams. 

Now awake, she sat there, staring at a poster as if she hadn’t read it over twenty times, when a friendly nurse left the room. 

“Hello, Miss. Wilkins and Mr. Palaci.” He greeted, “He will be able to have visitors. But I need you to be quiet, and slow. He’s on some pain killers.” He explained. 

Ruby’s heart simultaneously stopped and started again. If he reacted like he had done the last two times Ruby would never leave her room in shame. Edward squeezed her hand and stood, straightening his jacket. 

“Can... okay, thank you.” Ruby said shakily and put her hair up in a high pony tail, walking with her shoulders back, and slowly, hesitantly, at a snail’s pace, began for the hospital room. She got inside, and she saw her bandaged boy on the white bed, eyes half lidded as he shared into space. He noticed the black clothes against the white walls and looked at her. This time, he didn’t freak out. He stared blankly at her. 

“Harry?” She murmured, taking a few steps forward. Edward waited outside. She needed this. 

Harry didn’t say anything, but he did sit up a little, back on the pillows. Ruby had never felt her hands so sweaty- were they pruned with it? Gross. 

“Harry, it’s me, Ruby.”

“Ruby.” Harry murmured, looking dazed as he said it. The pain killers must really be in him, huh. The boy rubbed his eyes with his bandaged hands and muttered unintelligible words to himself, and then he said, “what is real?”

If he was just in pain killers, Ruby may have laughed, but this was heart breaking, seeing his blue eyes studying his hands like they were otherworldly, or perhaps to make sure that he was real. Another step forward without him screaming was a good sign, at least. She sat on one of the chairs and he looked at her, this time he had tears in his blue, shattered eyes, “What is real...?”

Ruby moved her chair forward and he leaned away a little. “Becau... because I remember you hurting me but apparently you didn’t. I dunno what to think anymore...”

Ruby offered her hand out, and after a few long moments of hesitation, he slipped his fragile hand into hers. 

“I promise you, I would never hurt you. I love you.... This is real.”

Harry’s eyes scanned her, up and down, her face, what she looked like, then he stuttered a breath. 

“I hope this is real.”


End file.
